[#1424]Controller drift / centering issue, Linux native V6.20 Beta 510529

[Quaxo76]

I keep getting a weird controller issue that is making the game almost unplayable for me.
Basically if I move one of the controller's analog axes, and then release it quite abruptly, often the game seems to "stick" with the latest non-zero reading, thus giving an extremely annoying drift on one or more axes. I can only cancel the drift by wiggling the affected axis, possibly releasing it a bit more smoothly.
It's not an hardware issue, because 1) it happens with several, unrelated controllers and joysticks (all quite high quality); 2) on the various calibration screens I tried, the reading ALWAYS centers back to exactly zero, never giving any false reading around the center point; 3) trying to run the Windows version on the same computer, on a separate Windows partition but with exactly the same hardware, does not show this issue.

I tried fiddling with the deadzone on the Settings screen, and it doesn't help. If I set it really high (say 60%) the drift occurs less often, but when it happens, it's more "violent", which is consistent with the idea that it keeps the last good reading before I "snapped" the controller to zero. And of course the came controls become almost digital, so this is not a viable solution.

I remember this issue was reported occasionally in the past (several versions behind) but for me it's absolutely still here, and it's very annoying and damaging the gameplay. It tends to happen more with low fps, which again would be consistent with a lower rate of controller polling. It happens a lot during fights (very bad) and it also happens a lot when walking inside ships and stations (to the point that using the teleporter is sometimes actually hard). This really spoils the fun.

I would be more than happy to test possible solutions and report back, to help resolve this issue.

My hardware configuration:
OS Ubuntu 22.04
CPU Intel Core i5 8400, 6 cores
RAM 48GB
GPU Nvidia GTX 1070

Thanks
Cristian

[EGO_Aut]

I had something similar on Windows, i had to calibrate the JS everytime before i start the game, and sometimes he became a drift...

Finally i used another USB port on my PC, and since then no problems anymore

[Quaxo76]

I had something similar on Windows, i had to calibrate the JS everytime before i start the game, and sometimes he became a drift...

Finally i used another USB port on my PC, and since then no problems anymore

Thanks, but this is something different... The calibration here is perfect, and so is the centering - when it works. If it was a calibration problem, the drift would be constant. Here it's just as if sometimes, when the controller is "snapped" to zero, the game stops polling for its position, and just "remembers" the last valid reading different from zero.

[PGeyer-Ego]

Hi,

I'm looking into this. I believe this is due to the fact that SDL is not giving us controller move events within the deadzone (or at 0) so as far as we know, the axis is holding a position at where it was last frame. This is of course more noticeable if the frame time is particularly long, and the axis snaps quickly. I couldn't get it to happen even down to 10fps with a dampened joystick, but could reproduce it even up to 30fps with an x360 pad. I'm working on a fix for this to make it consistent.

PG

[Quaxo76]

Hi,

I'm looking into this. I believe this is due to the fact that SDL is not giving us controller move events within the deadzone (or at 0) so as far as we know, the axis is holding a position at where it was last frame. This is of course more noticeable if the frame time is particularly long, and the axis snaps quickly. I couldn't get it to happen even down to 10fps with a dampened joystick, but could reproduce it even up to 30fps with an x360 pad. I'm working on a fix for this to make it consistent.

PG

Thanks, that's exactly what it sounds like. FWIW, the controller I routinely use is an x360 pad.
I'm more than willing to help, if needed, with more tests or information.
Thank you for your help

Cristian

[PGeyer-Ego]

Good morning,

Could you try again with Beta 8 (511212) and let me know if this has fixed it?

Thanks
PG

[Quaxo76]

Could you try again with Beta 8 (511212) and let me know if this has fixed it?

With the newest update, the issue has disappeared completely. Thank you so much, this makes such a difference in the game! Simple things like operating the teleport panels were quite hard, docking manually was almost impossible, and fights were frustrating. Now it feels like a totally different game!
Thanks again,
Cristian